Memories of

John Ross and Mary Lamb
Alexander

Perhaps some of you never had the opportunity of knowing our
Grandfather and Grandmother Alexander. They were descendants of
brave, courageous people, they lived in a time when life was hard,
they had little of this worlds goods, they raised a large family and
some how managed to keep them clothed and fed.

I never knew them when they were young, to me they were always
old. When they were almost ninety, Grandmother decided they could no
longer live alone, so they broke up housekeeping and came to live
with us in West Texas, they would stay with us in summer and go back
to Burnet in winter, where they would stay with Uncle Ed and Aunt
Alice Alexander.

Having grandparents live with you is quite an experience. They
had their own ideas about how things should be done and nothing could
change them. I don't know what they did when they were young, but in
old age Grandmother made all the important decisions, some times they
would have quite an argument, but she always won in the end. She was
a tiny little thing, and looked like a dresden doll, you would never
expect her to have such a strong will. She was the mother of ten
children, two of them were twins, two died when they were small
children. She raised eight children, four boys and four girls.

Grandfather wasn't a very tall man, he had piercing black eyes,
but as far back as I can remember his hair was thin and gray and he
wore a short gray beard.

While they lived with us he would spend many hours sitting in his
rocking chair on the front porch, smoking his pipe, talking to no
one, what his thoughts were we never knew, most likely he was living
in the past. Ever so often Grandmother would decide his face needed
a good washing, so she would get him out on the porch in a good
light. Seated in a kitchen chair, and with a pan of hot water, a bar
of soap and a wash cloth, she would proceed to give his face and ears
a good cleaning, and then she would carefully trim his beard and
hair. He looked so clean and scrubbed when she finished.

Once in a while she would decide he should have a bath. On bath
night we would get the outside chores done early. After supper a
kettle of water was put on the cook stove to heat, and the big wash
tub was brought in the bedroom. Chairs were placed around the tub
and bed sheets were draped over the chairs for privacy. Grandmother,
with my father assisting, would proceed to give him a bath.
Grandfather would meekly submit to this outrage, but he wasn't happy
about it, he could see no need for a bath when he didn't do anything
to get dirty.

Grandfather had no confidence in a bank, in his opinion it was a
good place to lose your money. If you put money in a bank you might
never see it again so he kept what little money he had in a little
tin tobacco box in his vest pocket. One night we saw him out in the
yard with a flash light searching for something. Father went out to
inquire what he was looking for, he had lost the tim box with his
money. Father persuaded him to come in and we would find it in the
morning. He was very reluctant to give up the search and he was up
early next morning and soon found it.

Grandfather received a small old age pension from the state. When
his check came he would go to town with Father and cash it at the
bank. Then the money was placed in the little tin box for safe
keeping. He never bought anything except chewing tobacco and tobacco
to smoke in his pipe.

One time he and father were preparing to go to town in Father's
little Model T Ford, it was about twenty miles to town where we went
to buy groceries, Grandfather enjoyed that little trip and didn't
want to miss it. On this particular day Grandmother laid out the
clothes she intended for him to wear. He always wore a vest, he had
a sunday vest and a everyday vest. His everyday vest was about worn
out, it was split wide open in the back, but he still liked to wear
it. Grandmother laid out a clean shirt, his sunday pants and vest.
He put on the shirt and pants, buy put the everyday vest back on.
Grandmother said, "you can't wear that old vest split down the back "
he informed her he was not going to town looking like a fool wearing
his sunday vest. She told him he would have to stay at home then,
and not go to town, he stomped out on the porch, set down in the
rocking chair and rocked furiously for a few minutes. I guess he
thought he had to get his check cashed, so he went back in and said,
"where did you put the vest?" He put it on and went off to town
looking like a fool wearing his sunday vest.

Grandfather and Grandmother had been gone many, many years when
this article was written by their granddaughter, Thelma Alexander
Hughes.